for the attentions paid it by modern as well as an- 
cient poets. Perhaps no allusion to it by any wri- 
ter of any age, ever equalled, for delicacy of feeling, 
that of our own immortal bard in the opening scene 
of his Twelfth Night. He there represents the Duke 
enraptured with a sweet strain of music, saying 
“ That strain again — it had a dying fall : 
O, it came o’er my ear like the sweet south, 
That breathes upon a bank of violets. 
Stealing and giving odour.” shakspeare. 
The shrubby Violet now figured, does not agree with 
any description to which we have access. Altliough 
it displays not those rich and velvety tints, those 
brilliant lacings of golden yellow, and deepest hues 
of Tyrian dye which glow in the banners of the now- 
favoured Pansy, it may claim attention for supe- 
rior strength and permanency, for its stems are 
shrubby, of upright growth, and branched, render- 
ing the appellation **Tree Violet” less anomalous 
than would at first appear. 
It is possible that varieties may be raised between 
the two species with some advantage to the florist ; 
for notwithstanding the present large size of our 
garden Pansies, and the beauty which they dis- 
j)lay, their parent, the Viola tricolor of our fields, 
when compared with our present subject, is a very 
insignificant flower. Superior stamina may, by 
such mixture, be given to the offspring, without 
much hazard of degeneracy in its flowers. These 
are speculations which we leave for the considera- 
tion of the curious florist, w orthy though they be of 
the scrutinizing study of the profoundest philosopher. 
Considered a frame plant, but probably quite hardy. 
